Audit shows migrant crisis mismanagement
BOSTON (WWLP) – State Auditor Diana DiZoglio spent the last few months auditing the migrant shelter crisis, and her findings show that the Healey administration's inaction resulted in unlawful contracts with providers.
The audit looked at the time period between July 2021 and June 2024, when the state placed over 7,700 families in emergency housing.
It found that the state executed several no-bid contracts with food and transportation providers, which resulted in unnecessary spending, including significant and unlawful overpayment to a ravioli company and a 233-foot cab ride, for example.
While the state is permitted to use no-bid contracts under emergency circumstances, the auditor says these contracts should have lasted weeks, not months.
The governor strongly disagrees with this analysis. She says her administration has made great strides in improving the shelter system she inherited.
'We've made a lot of reforms, a lot of changes, and as a result, we've seen numbers going down for folks who are in shelters, we've seen costs going down,' said Governor Healey.
The state's housing secretary released a response to the audit, saying it seriously lacks context on what the Healey administration inherited from the Baker administration, and even called the first audit finding 'fundamentally wrong and unfounded.'
The governor says she doubts her administration will make major changes to how they are handling the migrant crisis as a result of the audit.
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.
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